Juanita Nobles on hobbies…and a giveaway

I think you’ll enjoy this conversational guest post from my new friend Juanita Nobles, whose musings about hobbies make me want to run to the nearest fabric store and buy, buy, buy! She’s giving away a copy of her book, A Heritage of Faith. Read to the end for details of the drawing. Now, here is Juanita:

Hobbies, I’ve had more than you can count

When I was a child, every time my family started somewhere, mother made sure I had something to occupy my time. I must have been quite a talker, even then, because she wanted me to be busy so I would not interrupt while she visited with her friends. I took a coloring book, a journal to write in or draw in, or a book to read. Thus began my life of hobbies. And I really have had more than you can count.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved books. My family moved a lot during my early elementary years, but in spite of the change in routine several times, I learned to read without any problems. My mother is an avid reader and so are both my sisters, because of our mother’s influence.

At one school, the teachers listened to me read and put me up in the next grade. I was “double-promoted” because of my good reading and comprehension. They forgot to check my math skills, though. I still have trouble balancing the checkbook!

When I was old enough to get on a bus in Dallas by myself, I could ride to the public library and check out my own books. I would lovingly touch the books, reading the titles, and deciding which one I wanted to read first, then put them in my satchel and get back on the bus to go home. There was a bench in our yard under a big elm tree where I often sat during the summer, reading.

Later in life, after I had four children, I got my teaching degree with a specialty in reading. For twenty years, I worked with children who had reading problems.

I learned to sew when I was a teen-ager and began making my clothes. My grandmother taught me to be a good seamstress. After I married I made all my children’s clothes. Then in 1983 I started quilting, and since then I have probably made 100 quilts. One of the pictures below shows a quilt made with computerized pictures of our vacation memories. Another photo shows one made with multi-colored scraps of fabric.

I began doing oil and acrylic painting in 2003 and learned to love it. Many of my landscape pictures are in the homes of my children and relatives. And there is no more wall space at our house to hold another picture.

I began writing in 2010 because I had a remarkable story to tell. I was in an auto accident as a child and it almost resulted in my death. But through that experience, my dad became a Christian and our entire family life changed. In my book A Heritage of Faith, I told this story and many others about the life my husband and I led as pastor and wife in twelve churches in three states. If you like to read about real life experiences, you will like my book. If you want to read about a family whose experiences were side-splittingly funny, you will like my book. If you want to read about the way we did it in the old days (and I mean the REALLY old days), you will like my book.

Recently, I began blogging. In my blog, I review Christian books and interview wonderful Christian authors, many times offering a free book to those who leave comments. I have guest bloggers and I write about some of the things we experienced during the years when we served churches where my husband was pastor.

Encouraging Christian fiction is what my book is. And encouraging Christian fiction is what I read and review. I hope you will visit my blog at http://juanitanobles.blogspot.com and leave a comment.

If you would like to win one of my books, please leave a comment on Meg’s blog. I’ll mail an autographed copy to the winner.

To enter the drawing for a copy of A Heritage of Faith, leave a comment here with your email address. Contiguous 48 states only, please. The contest ends at midnight on Friday, June 7, 2013. I will announce the winner the next day and I will give her email to Juanita.